Rise
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: There is a prison, in a more ancient part of the world. A pit where men are thrown to suffer and die. But sometimes a man rises from that darkness. Sometimes, the pit sends something back. Thrown in and left to die, to despair, something rises from a pit. Once, he was a man. Now, he's become a monster. He'll do anything to get her back. Even if it means the death of an entire city.


**A/N: *Shrugs* Who knows who are what has been in the pit? Who knows what terrors languish within, forgotten by the ravages of time? Dread secrets, powerful entities, crippled by pain and self loathing, waiting, striving, hoping for a chance at freedom. This is that story. It is the story of the...Risen.**

_"You would do well to fear the dark...for it is my home."_

_~Prisoner._

**Risen**

He's been in the pit for so long now he forgot what it felt like.

Not the sun, he sees that every day. Every day he eats, sleeps, dreams, attempts the climb. Every day he falls. Fails to escape from this recchid hell of a hole that he fell into, that they've thrown him into. How long ago was that? Days? Weeks? Months? Years?

_Centuries?_

Not hope, either. Everyday he stares up at the sun and experiences it, that faint flicker of hope. He clings to it, refusing to fall into despair. To despair in this place is to die. No, what he'd forgotten was the feeling of joy.

Memories trickle through the blackness, worming their way into his heart, or where his heart should be. He had a wife, once. Children. Pale-eyed little blondes, running and playing at his feet. The memory brings with it pain, but at the same time, blessed relief. For the first time in an age, he allows himself to truly remember. To bask in the pain and draw strength from it. Their disappearance had been the catalyst, the beginning of his torture and was supposed to die. He remembers that much. They wanted him to die. At the time, he'd wanted to die. He'd been so broken and beaten when they'd thrown him in here that death would have been a mercy; a blessing, even.

But he didn't die.

His body lived on, while his soul withered, piece by precious piece. He watched many men make the climb, the rope of safety bound fast around their waist. He watched many men fall, plummeting to their deaths. Once he watched someone make the climb without the rope, though the circumstances were certainly less than favorable.

Once, he watched someone escape.

He watched someone, leave the pit. A child. They were protected. They had a guardian, a champion to watch over, to ensure their ascent. But as the child escaped, the protector was forced to fight. Forced to fall. He remembered, watching him, watching the protector fight off the other prisoners, those who sought to halt the child's climb. He remembered thinking, did the crazed inmates wish to prevent the child from escaping or did they simply want to keep the youngster from dying in a foolhardy bid for freedom?

He did not know, nor did he care. He sat there in his cell, watching with glazed blue eyes as the mighty man fought of the attackers.

They were swarming over him. Knives drawn, they fell upon the protector just as an equally bloodthirsty mob had attacked the child's mother, years before. He remembered hearing the child cry out from the precipiece eyes swimming with unshed tears. Something in the child's eyes forced the inmate out of his self inflicted stupor. He remembered standing, the strength surging through his limbs, filling him with dread power. Red light crackling from his body he advanced upon the horde with intent. He struck them down, the lot of them, ripping them away from the protector in bloody pieces, scattering limb and afghan in equal measure. His very last sight before the bloody rage completely subsumed him was that of the child, making the jump, succeeding, pulling herself to freedom.

Contentment washed over him, followed by horror as he gazed upon the ruined face of the protector. His aid had come to late. He'd saved the man's life, but his face would be remain forever scarred. He would suffer in eternal pain, thanks to the fumbling efforts of the prison's doctor. Guilt drove his mind back under and years passed. An endless eternity, broken only by snatches of conversation with the protector. Scarred though he'd become, the man's mind was insufferably sharp, and together they carved out a niche for themselves, an alliance in hell.

The name of that man, the man with the scarred face...was Bane.

Once more he watched men descend into the pit, and this time it was the protector who was taken to freedom. Not him. His only friend taken, the prisoner fell into despair. It was quiet for awhile after that, his solitude interrupted by the occasional whisper of madness and the self-loathing left behind.

Embittered by the departure of his comrade, he clawed himself back from the brink. . .in both body and mind. He sat there in the pit, building his strength. Keeping to himself. Waiting for the day, when it came. For the day when he too, would make the climb.

And then it came.

The vagabond looked up, hazarding a glance for the sudden shadow the fell upon his being. A man was being lowered into the pit, followed by others. Men were being lowered into the pity, many, many men. One of the men wore a mask. Whereas the prisoner was merely built this man was _built._ His very being rippled with muscle and power, his insidious words oozed confidence as he issued the commands to his men. He took the first man, the broken one, to a cell. After a time, he emerged, his eyes drifting upon the dank halls with an almost dangerous nostalgia. And it was in that instant the prisoner knew.

**Bane.**

Blue eyes fluttered open and shut with all the rapidity of a humming bird's wings; with the frantic beating of his heart._ Bane._ He'd returned. After so many years. He could scarcely believe his eyes, but it was indeed the eyes that gave the man away. Those eyes, that face, masked though it was, were impossible to forget.

The prisoner choked in wordless surprise and Bane's head snapped toward him.

"My friend," The great god of a man strode forward and reached down to clasp the younger inmate's arm within his own. "It has been too long." His eyes glittered with a rare emotion; sympathy. "You have fared well, I trust?"

The prisoner nods; nods, because he's long since lost the ability to speak. They tore that from him, took his words away when they cast him into the pit, took his everything. His eyes, however, held boundless emotions tempered by the years in the pit. He cast a glance down at himself, gazed up, longingly into the sky. Bane followed his gaze peering toward the sunlight, the promise of eternal freedom. A freedom he himself relished in while those in the pit languished in the depths of misery and despair.

"You are to make the climb?" he asked.

The prisoner nodded, his gaze drifting only reluctantly to the now occupied cell. Who was within, he wondered? Who could have been so foolish as to rouse the wrath of Bane? Noticing his curiousity, the maksed man turned his gaze toward the cell.

"An old enemy." Bane explained, his voice dripping with contempt. "A betrayer, sent here to suffer."

The prisoner shruggged. It was none of his concern, after all.

The prisoner nods and steps past him.

A meaty hand closed around his arm.

"Wait, friend."

The blond blinked, regarding the former inmate with curiousity. Curiousity, as Bane signaled one of his men forward, bid the soldier wrap a thick cable around the blonde's roughshod tunic. The mercenary gave a signal and abruptly, the roar of rotary blades filled the air. Darkness shrouded the pit, eliciting sharp cries of agony from the other inmates. To them, the light was their hope. The Prisoner merely closed his eyes, welcoming it like a long lost friend.

"I left you in this pit, brother." Bane said, shouting to make himself heard over the incessant din of the spinning blades. "I left you here to languish, to suffer, and for that, I am sorry. It was not, my intent. But now fate has conspired to bring us together. To reunite us once more, under the same banner...Naruto."

The prisoner tilted his head. Ah, yes. That was his name, wasn't it? How had Bane come by it? He'd certainly never told him it. If the mercenary saw his confusion, he did precious little to acknowledge it. Instead, he did the exact opposite, gesturing to the awaiting men and women surrounding them.

"We will restore you, brother." The mercenary promised, clasping the blonde's shoulder with alarming fervor. "All of your strength, your power, your voice, _even your loved ones, _I shall find them all and return them to you, safe and sound. I ask only one thing of you. Your aid,_ your power_, in tearing down the corruption that is Gotham City." Naruto gave Bane an incredulous stare, eyes bulging in incomprehension. Gotham City? Even _he_ knew better than to trile with the protector of that realm. It must've shone through in his body language, for the mercenary sighed.

Bane inclined his head.

"You fear the Batman." He said. It was not a question. "This is understandable. Tell me, brother, what would you do were I to tell you that I have broken him?" Once more, his gaze drifted to the newly occupied cell. He seemed almost smug of the fact, almost...proud. The pieces clicked together with terrible swiftness, and this time, the blond couldn't contain his surprised grunt. Thankfully, his cowl concealed the scowl. Concealed this

_"You broke him?"_ he signed, fingers fumbling from misuse._ "You broke the bat?"_

Bane nodded.

_"Why is he still alive?"_

"He does not fear death." The masked terrorist explained. "To kill him would be a mercy."

As if on cue, an agonizing scream resounded beyond the walls of his cell.

"His punishment must be more severe." Bane refused to clarify anything beyond this, as he gave the blonde's cable percersuory tug. "And yours must be pardoned. Now, it is time for you to rise." Before the blond could ask for clarification, he found himself hauled upward, his body jerked up and into the sunlight. The ascent was surprisingly, brief, leaving him dangling over the pit. For a moment dangling between the void of life and of death, he felt the familiar rush of ice-cold fear. Of terror. What if the cable broke? Even he could not survive such a fall. If he fell...

"Now is not the time for fear, brother." Naruto craned his neck around to see Bane hanging on the cable opposite him, utterly unfazed by their abrupt ascent from the darkness. He could almost _see_ the smile behind the mask lurking like a hungry predator in preparation for it prey. "That comes later. For the people of Gotham City." The blond wished he could reply with a barbed quip of his own but the charred and scarred matter of his vocal cords left him with only a satisfied grunt as they were hoised ever higher into the air, drawn inexorably towards the cockpit.

Memories flashed through his mind once more. He had no idea how long he'd been in the pit. He didn't know if it was even possible to see his wife and children again. He did know however, that a single city was a small price to pay for their safe return. He'd done far worse in his time,until his choices landed him in the pit. He'd always been the way. No cost was too high no price was too great so long as it meant those that he cared for were safe and sound. Now, if it meant the return of all that he'd lost, he was more than willing to anything to reclaim it. Even if that meant the destruction of another man's world.

After years of hellish solitude, Uzumaki Naruto had risen.

**A/N: Will Naruto side with Bane or the Bat? Only time will tell. It stands to reason that ANYONE could be down there in that pit, so when a friend suggested a chakra-stripped Naruto being cast in that hell of a hole, well, the idea just came to me. Honestly, Bane scares the living shit out of me, and as the only man to ever break the Bat's back and leave him begging for death... I guess that's warranted. Any idea who Naruto's wife is? You'll win a prize if you guess correctly! Hope you've been enjoying all my updates! **

**And****... be sure to review! If not, your punishment will be most severe!**

**R&R! =D**


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